Real or imaginary, a perception exists for fans of pretty much everyone other than Duke that Duke gets all the calls, all the breaks, all the attention.

It’s certainly the case with television scheduling, and nearly every word uttered by coach Mike Krzyzewski is parsed in some way. Of course, he’s the winningest Division I men’s coach in college basketball history, so that might have something to do with it, too.

But when it comes to how the Blue Devils are treated by the NCAA tournament selection committee, there’s really little to quibble about.

Last four included: Arizona State, Richmond, Baylor, Oregon

Last four out: Mississippi, Southern Methodist, Louisiana State, N.C. State

Over the last 18 seasons, Duke’s seeding has paralleled its final regular season position in the Ratings Percentage Index far more often than not. Taking the overly simplistic step of matching the top four teams in the RPI as apparent No. 1 seeds, the next four as apparent No. 2 seeds, etc., Duke’s seeding lined up exactly with its projected seeding in 14 of the last 18 years.

Of the four seasons the Blue Devils’s seeding wasn’t in line with the RPI, they were seeded lower than anticipated in three of them.

The one time Duke was mildly overseeded was in 2010, when it got a No. 1 seed with an RPI of 7 and an overall strength of schedule of 8. That’s hardly anything to get too upset about; the Blue Devils were still really good, and they went on to win the national title that season (in fact beating the West Virginia bunch that had a decent claim to the final No. 1 seed that season in the Final Four).

But it has cut the other way as well. A season ago, Duke finished atop the RPI, played the nation’s sixth toughest schedule, went 11-3 against the top 50 in the RPI and arguably had the second-best overall profile behind Louisville. Still, the committee saw fit to hand the Blue Devils a No. 2 seed and place them in Louisville’s bracket, and out Duke went in the regional final to the eventual national champion.

The other two recent instances of Duke’s seeding being off reflected some common sense on the part of the committee. In 2009, Duke had the top RPI and the toughest schedule, but it also went 6-5 to close out the ACC regular season before winning the conference tournament. As a No. 2 seed, those Blue Devils were crushed by Villanova in the NCAA round of 16.

Two years earlier, Duke went 4-7 after Feb. 1 and earned a No. 6 seed despite an RPI of 15. The Blue Devils were promptly bounced in the first round by Virginia Commonwealth.

As for this year? The Blue Devils sit at 11th in the RPI while playing the sixth toughest schedule in the country entering Saturday’s game at Syracuse. In Friday’s bracket projection, their seeding precisely reflects their metrics: A solid No. 3 seed that could continue to improve over the final six weeks of the regular season.

Note: (Teams with their conference affiliation in parenthesis are projected to be automatic bids by winning the conference; in this bracket, the West winner would face the Midwest winner and the East winner would face the South winner)